Lawyer/Legal Specialist, Governance & Legal Services (0795)

Job Description

The Lawyer*, Governance & Legal Services will join ClientEarth’s global Governance & Legal Services Department (G&LS).

The global G&LS Department is an in-house legal team driven to enable ClientEarth to deliver innovative legal strategies while managing risk and legal compliance in a manner consistent with our organisational values. You will be part of, and encouraged to take initiative, by a highly motivated team consisting of around 10 staff sitting across five of ClientEarth’s offices who provide expertise and support globally to our in-house lawyers and other staff across four key areas: Litigation, Governance, Risk & Compliance, and Legal Services. You will be able to work with staff across the organisation in various jurisdictions where ClientEarth operates, on a wide range of matters.

Meet your Manager

In this role, you will be managed by Liesbet Nysen, Senior Lawyer*, Head of Legal Services (*Company Lawyer, member of IBJ-IJE in Belgium). Liesbet supports ClientEarth's global governance and oversees its risk & compliance, and legal service standards, policies and best practices, and provides legal support to the organisation. Prior to joining ClientEarth in 2019, Liesbet practiced as a lawyer in a law firm in Brussels and was an in-house legal advisor of an international company, focusing on contracts, litigation, and mediation with a commercial law angle.

Main Duties

• Encourage and support staff to follow and use the partner contracting processes and templates (and related processes, e.g. procurement and due diligence), and provide guidance, advice and training in this respect
• Become an experienced user and champion of the Contract Management System, urging and supporting all teams to use the Contract Management System
• Review draft contracts and contract-related documentation, including contracts with partners, grant agreements, tender documentation, due diligence documentation, etc.
• Support the ClientEarth entity in Poland with entity governance, and local legal, risk and compliance matters

See the job description (below) for a full list of duties for this role.

Role requirements

• Fluent (CEFR Level C2) in English
• Fluent (CEFR Level C2) in Polish
• Law degree
• Proven experience in contract law and contract review/drafting; understanding of contractual language, key contractual issues, and the contract lifecycle

See the job description (below) for a full list of requirements for this role.

Note to candidates: We know that long lists of criteria can be daunting and that some candidates will not apply for a role unless they feel they are 100% qualified. If you feel you meet at least some of the essential criteria, we still encourage you to apply.

Further Information

Have a question about this job? Please visit our Careers site for advice on applying, FAQs, and more.

Flexible working: We are proud to be a Flexa accredited Employer. Visit our Flexa Employer page for more information on our approach to flexible working. Our flexible working policy allows our people the choice to decide to work from home in the country where their contract of employment is issued for 80% of their month, with the other 20% of their month being office-based See our Benefits page for more.

ClientEarth values diversity and inclusion and the benefits this brings. We aim to appoint the most suitable candidate at all times and welcome applications from people from all different backgrounds.

Please note that ClientEarth is only able to employ those who have the pre-existing legal right to work in Poland.

ClientEarth is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal services to third parties.